Saturday's Central Georgia Daily News 'n Notes: milestone for Mercer's Gibson, Falcons draft, UGA/Tech draft, college baseball and softball, Braves, United, and more

Saturday's Central Georgia - and of interest to Central Georgia - news and notes, compiled from staff reports, email reports, the web, and social media.

Mercer's Gibson picks up 500th win

          The Bears made it a little suspenseful, trailing 3-1 through five, but they scored seven runs in three innings to top VMI 9-4 and give head coach Craig Gibson his 500th win.

          Gibson, a Bears standout back in the day, is 500-346, and is the 13th active NCAA Division I head coach to win 500 at his alma mater.

NFL Draft

The Falcons add RB, WR, and LB on final day

          Atlanta traded up to get a wideout from LSU, to join a linebacker from Yale and runnin gback from Southern Miss.

One scouting report

          From the Falcoholic.

Another scouting report

          From Falconswire.

One set of grades

          From Sports Illustrated.

Falcons column:  draft, self-examination should be good

         There was a plan.

Six Georgia players ended up getting called

          The start was hot, and things slowed down, but the Bulldogs sent a second player to the Bears.

UGA had players sign as undrafted free agents

          A trio from Georgia found interest after the draft ended.

Yellow Jackets blanked in draft, but have busy free agents

          Several Georgia Tech football players had plans in place before Saturday was over, with tryouts and invites to rookie camps and free-agent deals.

          Ricky Jeune got a deal with the Rams, Lamar County alums Lance and Lawrence Austin area bound for Falcons rookie mini-camp, the same going for KeShun Freeman and Baltimore. Freddie Burden will do the same with Cleveland,

          San Francisco signed Corey Griffin as a free agent, as did Antonio Simmons with Tampa Bay.

Elsewhere

Folty, Braves bounce back against Phillies

          Mike Foltynewicz went six strong innings - tying his longest stint of the season - as Atlanta shut down Philadelphia 4-1.

College Baseball: Columbus State gets some revenge against Georgia College to even series

          Columbus State got going a little late, but in enough time to take a 6-5 win over Georgia College in a battle of top-12 teams.

          A three-run seventh pushed the Cougars into the lead.

College Baseball: Hancock on point as Georgia pops Tennessee

          Freshman Emerson Hancock had few mistakes on he mound in Georgia's 12-4 win over Tennessee.

          He struck out eight in six-plus innings and walked nobody.

College Baseball: Thomas humbles Wake Forest with 17 strikeouts

          Sophomore lefty Connor Thomas whiffed 17 in throwing his second complete game of the season, a 5-1 win over Wake Forest.

          Thomas was two strikeouts short of tying Jerry Bass's record, set in 1975 against Earlham.

College Softball: Senior Day sweet for Georgia College in sweep

          The seniors went out in style as No. 20 Georgia College took two from Columbus State, 4-2 and 5-4.

College Softball: Mercer gets a split on the road

          Mercer left Cullowhee, N.C. with twice as many wins as Western Carolina, which managed a sweep with a 9-1 second-game after Mercer took the opener 7-1.

          The Bears hit the 30-win mark for the first time since 2015.

College Tennis: Georgia College women ousted from NCAAs

          No. 21 Georgia College got off to a good start, but No. 27 North Georgia finished a little better in taking a 5-4 win in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional II semifinal.

          The men play Lander on Monday in the same round.

Atlanta United roll past Montreal

          The United maintained an unbeaten streak of seven by battling to a 4-1 win over visiting Montreal.

The daily and high school playoff scoreboard and schedule are posted

This week's signings

          Dodge County standouts Nick Cummings and DeMarcus Caines signed Thursday to play basketball at South Georgia Technical College in Americus.

          SGTC went 20-12 last year in the Georgia Collegiate Athletic Association, and tied for second. ...

          West Laurens infielder and pitcher Guy Anderberg has signed with Georgia Southwestern of the Peach Belt Conference.

This week's honor roll

          After his headline performance against Florida, Mercer reliever Robert Broom has been added to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association's stopper of the year midseason watch list for the second straight year.

          Broom, a junior from Gordon Lee, is 8-1 with a 1.33 ERA and 84 strikeouts in 54.1 innings. ...

          Former Stratford standout Mary Wilson Avant is having a season with Georgia, and is the latest SEC softball pitcher of the week.

          Avant went 3-0, allowing only 1 run i 18 innings against USC Upstate, and Kentucky. She whiffed a season-high eight againt UK with no walks.

          She is 7-1 in 67.2 innings with 60 strikeouts and a .72 ERA. ...

          Middle Georgia State's Margaret Simmons is the latest Southern States Athletic Conference player of the week.

          The freshman from Dodge County batted .350 with 3 HRs in 3 straight games, including a walk-off homer, helping the Knights to a 5-1 record. It's her second honor of the season.

This Week's Poll Watch

          Georgia College's baseball team is No. 2 in the latest NCAA Division II regional rankings, in the Southeast Region.

          Columbus State is No. 4, USC Aiken 7th, and North Georgia 9th.

          The Bobcats are No. 9 in the National College Baseball Writers Association poll and No. 12 in Collegiate Baseball.

          Georgia College visits Columbus State this weekend, starting Friday.